Heath Hoadley had been brewing in Oregon and Washington for ten years and grew tired of watching other people get rich while he concocted award-winning microbrews. He decided to return to his roots in the Midwest and get a fresh start, this time for himself. He called his longtime friend and former business partner, Mike Hummell, with a cockamamie scheme to make beer in Mike’s backyard. After months of planning the Barnyard Brewers were ready to start building their nano-brewery.

They enlisted the help of a good friend, Dwight Williams, who just happened to be a food-processing engineer with 30 years of experience. Heath explained to Dwight everything he needed the system to do. In the end it had to be a miniature version of the systems and techniques used at any brewpub. Within months Heath was staring at the love of his life- a one-of-a-kind, self-contained, stainless steel, beer making contraption.

It was time for a good ole fashioned Barn raising. This miniature 10×10 barn houses the brewing system and fermenters where the BarnYard Brewers have been honing their skills and developing beer recipes since May of 2008. Now that the backyard had been transformed into The BarnYard, it was time to share the brew.

In August 2008 they held their first beer tasting with close friends. It gave them a chance to see the reactions of others up close. As the beer tastings became more and more popular it became apparent that the BarnYard Brewers were on to something. Since then they have developed six beers and are working on several more. If you want to sample any of these beers you can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or this blog, or you can email us to find your best chance to try our microbrew.

Now we just have to find a way to bottle it.